DIY website design. You better know what you are doing or you can lose more than time.

DIY website design. You better know what you are doing or you can lose more than time.

DIY Website Design

If you are trying to build a DIY website design you better know what you are doing or you can lose more than time. Many DIY website builders emphasize design and little function. Your website must have the right content to drive sales or you have failed miserably.

I am not saying that your website should not be beautiful. It should, but you should use as much beautiful words and tactics on your website as you have imagery to have ultimate success.

In addition, when you are writing make sure you get this. PEOPLE DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU OR YOUR COMPANY UNTIL THEY DO. In other words, don’t slam your company centric information down the throats of your visitors. Give them content that will let them know how you can help them and make your content is customer centric. Nobody cares you have 100 years’ experience until they know if you can help them.

How do you decide what content to put on your DIY website design? It’s easy, you figure out what customers ask you and make sure all questions are answered. If you already have customers ASK them. Describe all products and services in full. The less information the less sales. If it is important to know then put it in. People are smart enough to stop reading when they want to so less is not more. More is better.

Also, tell them what to do next on your website. Use text and large call to actions to get them to the important stuff. Show your products and services on the home page in some eye catching way. Don’t assume they will understand what to do. They will NOT. Use words like click here; learn more by clicking here, hey you click this next! It does not matter as long as you guide them with words. It works!

Use, easy to find, contact information and forms, customer service chat, etc. Don’t make them sign up to contact you.

How do you fix a bad DIY website design? It’s easy.

There are many books on the subject of marketing and website design but I just wanted to boil it down so you never take your mind off of the importance of using your website effectively.

A website is NOT something you create and leave to gather cyber dust on the Internet. Think of it as a living thing that needs to be updated / fed often and in some cases very often. Your website should be looked upon as a 24-hour salesperson that is working hard for you. Most companies get into the “yea, we have a website but it doesn’t bring in any sales” syndrome because they are not using it properly.

How do you fix a bad website?

Here is a list of things you can add to your website to help you achieve your marketing goals.

Make sure that your website has a method of contact on every page. This can be a contact form or an image Call To Action (CTA) directing them to a form. Please remember that most will not fill out a ling form so keep the inputs to a minimum.

Stay away from anything that moves (Flash and jQuery, etc.) that does not add to the users experience. In other words if the imagery does not DIRECTLY relate to or help in the sales process then leave it off. ESPECIALLY moving images.

Add video Testimonials and make a prominent Call To Action (CTA) image directing people to the page. Make sure you have more than three. You can combine written with video as well. If you sell many services have testimonials weaved into each service page.

Have a video (Talking head) of the owner speaking about the business and the BENEFITS of doing business with them. Do NOT bash the competition. Don’t even mention them. 3 minutes maximum unless you are very charismatic and have important stuff to say.

Include case studies of previous clients you have helped.

Use a lot of text. If you need to elaborate then do so. If someone wants to stop reading they will. “It’s better to have and not to need than to need and not to have.”Having a short amount of text is like having your salesperson stop speaking after 200 words. Don’t steal copy from other websites and don’t use copy that is on other websites even if you have permission.

Include all links to your social media sites you update frequently. If you don’t update them often then leave them off. Better yet update them often.

Make sure your navigation is logical and place the most important links first. Sorry, the about the company link is not the most important.

Keep your design consistent. Keep the logo in the same place on every page. You never know which page someone is coming in on. If you have a cryptic logo make sure you use a tag line that is descriptive.

Use contrasting color. The best is white pages with black text. Use red but very sparingly to make things stand out.

Have a free download or report that your prospects can download. You can make it so they can only download it if they give you’re their email address. Or if you don’t want to take an email make sure it is heavily branded.

A/B Split test your home page often.

Create the website for your customers NOT for you.

Create a blog and blog often.

Call to ACTION images.

Many websites lack the proper elements to drive sales. In addition to not having re-marketing or email collection strategies they are missing out on a simple and easy to implement tactic called Call To Actions (CTA). A CTA is an image or text block that sole purpose it to get visitors to do something. You have probably seen call to actions in advertising. Call Now! Or Call Today! Or Visit our website for more information! These are all call to actions as they tell a reader what you want them to do next.

I find images that stand out on a web page are effective to get visitors to the important parts of your website. Text is important but you must also use larger, stand out elements to guide them where you want them to go. A big mistake most web designers make is they forget to put the call to actions on every page of the website. Once they leave the home page, they still need to be driven to the right content.

Try it yourself on your website. Make sure you track the results with analytics so you know the visitors are actually clicking on the images.

Some important marketing tactics you should be implementing NOW!

The marketing tactics below have been around for a while. However, many companies still have not implemented them in their business. This is a problem as I am sure many of their competitors have done so. The tactics below are no longer a luxury; they are a necessity especially in today’s fast pace business world. All of them are set it and then tweak it. This is not an all-inclusive list of everything you should be doing for your business but it is a great addition to your overall marketing strategy.

Digital Re-Marketing

There are many platforms that offer the ability to use re-marketing but I will keep it to Google AdWords and Facebook.

Both services allow you to sign up and create a pixel or small bit of code that you would place into your website. This code places a cookie onto a visitor’s computer. This cookie tracks them and when they land on a property where Google serves banner ads, your banner ad will be displayed. If it is on Facebook the same will happen. They go to your website and then to Facebook where they see your ad. It has probably happened to you. Re-marketing is a great way to keep your brand top of mind. Pricing varies but generally, it is affordable for any sized business.

Responsive Email List Building With Smart Auto Responders.

Having an email list is great BUT having a responsive email list is better.

A great way to build your responsive email list is to offer free hyper-specific content or offer that is of high value to the prospect or customer. Then you advertise the free content. In order for them to get the content or the offer, they must give you their email address and name. I know what you are thinking. You don’t like giving your email address out. I understand but keep in mind we are only looking for 10% – 20% of the visitors to do so. There will be more or less. However, when they do you can be sure that they are interested in the subject! That is the first step to a sale.

Let’s do the math.

Assumptions: Average sale profit is $50.00
Lifetime Value of a Customer is three sales per year for an average of three years (nine purchases).

500 people visit your website or landing page based on an advertisement (so they are already interested).
50 sign up for the content or offer.
10 become first time customers. ($4,500.00 profit)
(10 x 50 = 500 x 3 = 1500 x 3=4500)This is conservative as there will be more of the 50 that might convert later.

How do you get interested persons on your email list?

Many companies send out a “newsletter” to its email list once a month but that is not what I am talking about here. This tactic works like a digital salesperson. The email list is built based on the interests of the prospect or customer. Then hyper-specific, targeted autoresponder emails are sent out on a schedule that sole purpose is to educate on the subject and to close a sale, sign up for a webinar, etc.

In addition to the initial email content, there are also links within the content that links to other related, but different, content. Once the link is clicked that persons email is put into another autoresponder list that contains emails to be sent on a pre-determined schedule that are hyper-specific and targeted to that new subject.

Think of it this way. You walk into an appliance store and ask about a refrigerator. The salesperson gives you all the benefits of owning a certain model. While they are speaking to you about it, you notice a shiny new microwave. You then ask about the microwave. The salesperson goes on to tell you about the microwave and that if you buy them together they will give you twenty percent off. This is similar to how the email auto responders triggered by subject would work. You learn about one subject then when another interests you and you click for more information, you are sent information about that subject. Pretty cool huh? And guess what? It’s all automated!!!!

Directly Targeted Offers Through Facebook

No, I don’t own stock in Facebook. I wish, but you can’t ignore 1.6 billion people.

Facebook allows you to upload an email list and target a specific ad directly to the persons on that list. It’s called custom audiences. This is a GREAT way to target market offers specifically to customers who would benefit from them.

This is simple if you currently have a customer database defined by purchase behavior. (What?) Yes, I know that many of you do not have a customer database. The good news is there are many ways to fix this. Too many to list here so call me for more information.

Let’s say you sell two different services. You have a customer database of people that have purchased service “A” but not service “B”. You would create a landing page that speaks only about the service you will promote, create an ad, upload your list of customers who did NOT purchase the service that you are promoting in the offer and then upload the ad, set a budget and viola. Only the people who you have uploaded will see the ad. Nice? There are many other techniques so let me know if you want to explore them. Including the use of other people’s lists.

Blogging

Yes. I said it again. Blogging. Yuck, right? Only if you are not serious about raising your status as an expert or helping your search engine optimization efforts. When you blog informative articles you show people that you know your stuff. It helps build you as an expert and helps people decide if they wat to do business with you. In addition, since you will be blogging about specific subjects related to your business it will also give you a boost in the search engines and generate more qualified traffic to your website. And qualified traffic is what you want.

You should try to blog five times a week. I know that might be overwhelming for you but maybe you have employees that can blog. The blog posts do not have to be too long. Just about two or three paragraphs. Be consistent in whatever you decide you blogging schedule will be. Track your website visitor count when you start and then in 90 days. Then call me and thank me.

Customer Interaction Marketing

This is when you give your customers images and things to post on their social media. Here is one of the many tactics you could implement.

If you have a store apply a decal of your logo, tag line and website address to a one colored wall. Make sure you have room on the left for a person of approximately 5’5 to stand. Make sure that when the person stands there they see them and your logo in the picture. You take a picture of them. Send it to them via email or text and ask them to share it on their social media. You should also use this technique when creating video testimonials.

If you don’t have a store you could make a portable stand up sign that would work the same way.

Advanced Testimonials

These aren’t your grandmother’s testimonials. These are video testimonials. Sometimes with case studies. They also could include written letters. Think of it as a media kit for each testimonial. They will be used on your website and on a flash drive or DVD to give to prospects. They shouldn’t look produced. Try to include a personal story into them.

Direct Response Mail With Personal Follow Up

Many companies think direct mail is dead but it is not. It must be done properly.

In my opinion, general direct mail is a waste of money. It is always better to have a specific offer in all of your direct mail. In this case I only want you to send a direct response direct mail piece to a manageable list of people that are not on the do not call list. You will mail them a sequence of direct mail. (Drip campaign) then you will follow up with a phone call. Yup I said it. You have to sell. On the other hand, if you are uncomfortable with this have a salesperson do it. Either way get it done. I am sure your competitors are not implementing this and you will take them by surprise. Keep in mind you will get about 95% hang-ups. This is fine.